Oregon GOP candidates for governor Allen Alley, left, and Bud Pierce, right.
Allen Alley campaign/Bud Pierce, Facebook
Oregon voters haven't elected a Republican as governor for 34 years. The two GOP front runners for the gubernatorial nomination think this is the year that will change.
Bud Pierce is a Salem oncologist with his own practice who has never before held elected office. He says he has the leadership experience and the knowledge to lead the state.
Pierce told OPB's Think Out Loud that homelessness and mental illness are two huge areas where the current Democratic leadership is failing.
“"Clearly the answer to homelessness and poverty and health and so many issues are jobs. And we tout our full employment but the reality is we have 1.5 million full-time jobs, and we have four million citizens. And we have about a half a million part time jobs. Lots of people of working age aren't working. And the reality is, and you and I know, that for most people, the anchoring of a full-time job gives that great stability to your life, a reason to your life. And that's probably the greatest failure of all."”
Pierce says he believes he can rehabilitate the GOP brand:
“"So, I'm going to be the Republican candidate who's going to come out, address these issues, present practical solutions and remind people of the the great Republican party. The legacy of Republicans are: Lincoln; freedom; Roosevelt (Teddy), a Square Deal, a fair deal for the common man, woman and child; Mark Hatfield, the morality and sticking up a lot for rights of African-Americans and opposing the war in Vietnam; and finally, Tom McCall, the great environmentalist governor. And that's the Republican party that I'm going to present to the voters."”
Pierce's rival for the nomination is tech executive Allen Alley, former Oregon GOP head and a past candidate for statewide office. He says he has the history and disposition to work across the aisle with his Democratic lawmakers. But Alley told Think Out Loud that he would have vetoed a number of bills that came out of the last legislative session, including the minimum wage:
“"I want everybody to make more money; I want every single Oregonian to be prosperous. And I want us to move up on the personal income scale. The big flaw I saw with that one is that nobody calculated … what the impact on state budgets is going to be by raising this minimum wage. Because you get what's called compression. When you raise it to $14.75 an hour, if you take the SEIU schedule, the bottom seven rungs of the ladder get compressed into one. So now an entry-level janitor makes the same as a physician's assistant, for example. So, the first time we have a labor negotiation, they're going to come in and say, 'That's not fair. Physician's assistants shouldn't make that much, we're going to have to boost them.' That boost is about, that could be as much as 30 percent to the entire state payroll … And that's what happens when you pass massively important legislation in a short session."”
You can listen to the full Think Out Loud interviews with both Allen Alley and Bud Pierce online. Ballots go out this week for the primary, and are due at local county elections offices by 8 p.m. May 17.
